Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1887-09-08
WOMAN'S DEPARTMENT.
A PLAIN TALK TO GIRLS.
Some Advice Worth Heeding-A Practical
Talk from q Big-Hearted Practical
Woman.

"ohhhs
They 60 to bed at night and fall into
stupor, why notP Is there one breath
of fresh air in their sleeping boxP Do
they ever, except in the heat of sum-
mer, have so much as crack of the
window openp If there is a fireplace
in their room OF stove-pipe hole,
don't they close them up as tightly as
they camp No wonder it is SO hard to
wake up in the morning. l can hear
them groan and moan and ycarn and
scold now, at the imperative summons
to get up. And what do they find on
the breakfast tableP Sweet fried cakes,
something in the shape of meat, gen.
orally fried, potato either fried or
stewed, hot coffee, and probably "grid-
die cakes" fried, of course. Now l
am not going on a crusade against the
frying-pan, for it has its uses; but
when l see a girl sit down at the break
fast table with dull eyes, sallow face,
a listless manner, and pl oceed to make
that early meal of strong coffee, sweet
ened cakes, fried pork and potatoes,
with sequence of griddle cakes liber-
ally buttered and drowned in molasses,
l feel like shutting her up for a weeks
starvation on bread and water.
Then there is dinner; tough meat,
baked vegetables, pie, any kind of a
pie with crust either tough or sandy,
tasting strongly of lard and filled with
the things most convenient. A favor
ite pie in our country homes is con-
structed of sliced lemon, flour and mo-
lasses, baked into mass as unfit for
the human stomach as a stewed rubber
overshoe.
Tea time brings cakes of various
sorts, probably more pie, cheese, fruit
preserved and SO ill-done. it is fer
mented, or canned fruit, which is COM
paratively harmless, strong tea and
hot biscuit. Repasts fit for
IA cassowary,
On the plains OF Timbuctoo."
Then to begin the day again. After
breakfast they run upstairs, spread up
their bed with all the exhalations of
their bodies during the night still i'm
prisoned in it; they perhaps sweep the
floor and dust the furniture; then they
60 downstairs and sew little, or prac-
tice half an hour, if they are so un-
fortunate as to own cheap piano or
parlor organ. 1t is possible that they
make some cake if it is needed; they
dawdle great deal, read little and
then it is dinner-time; and they sit
down to dinner as they did to break
fast, in an easy old gown, perhaps a
wrapper; their front hair wrung into
tight knots about crimping-pins. their
back hair In a dusty knot.
Dinner over, they go up to their
rooms again to. dress for the afternoon.
They lace up their corsets tighter, put
on boots with heels two inches high,
twist their hair into an unnatural fluff
which covers their foreheads and gives
them the aspect of Skye terrier, put
on dress which is so 'well fitting
that they can not raise their arms to
their heads in it, and 60 out to walk
and see what they can see After tea
another girl comes in ard they giggle
and whisper together for while, and
then go out together, perhaps with a
young man, to some third-class show,
or to ball, or drive. They have
latch-keys and come home when they
get ready, slip into their unaired beds
after hanging the dresses they have
worn eight or ten hours in that tight
shut closet, and repeat the experience
of the night before.
Now they have sown the seed.
"What will the harvest beP'
First-H it is winter, heavy cold
the misused lungs forced to breathe
over and over again air that has nc
vitality in it, air that is absolutely nox.
ious, become congested more or less,
and they begin to cough and sneeze.
If they have scrofula hidden in theil
constitutiops-and how few people
have not-the harvest of this plant
ing will be bronchitis or consumption
The next crop is dyspepsia; they
put into that delicate organ, til,
human stomach, already disgusted by
the hard labor of its next neighbor
the lungs, and weakened by the SLOW
circulation of vitiated blood, vitiatet
by the bad air, mass of indigestibl,
stuff that they call food; at first the,
do not notice any special effect, they
are young and strong and can bear ;
good deal of physical misfortun,
without much trouble, but after
time food begins to distress them, lif
gets very tiresome, they have acic
tastes in their mouths, heartburn
fiatulence. Yes, l know these are un
pleasant things to talk of, but they ar
a great deal more unpleasant to have
Then they lose their rest, their ap
petite, strength. courage, cheerful
ness.
This is a bad crop; it realizes tn
primcval curse. Thorns and brier
shall it bring forth unto thee"
So they began to diet; but there is
harvest from that corset that abro
gates the good of diet
They "don't even lace tight"
never knew a woman who did,
mean who said she did. have had
stout woman of fifty tell me the sam
thing. adding, triumphantly, "an
i wear the same sized corset l did a
sixteen"
L have every reason to suppose sh
thought was fool. / must be, I
believe that thirty-six years had nc
altered the size and shape of won
an! must be not to see in the at
rupt angle her hips made with he
waist the immense size of those hip
and whole shape of her figure. muc
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